E-Paper
Rajasthan girl death: Parents say she was ‘bullied, abused’, allege teachers ignored her pleas
Parents have accused a teacher of ignoring their daughter’s repeated complaints about being bullied by classmates, including on the day of the incident.
The nine-year-old girl who died after jumping off the fourth-floor of her Jaipur school building was reportedly bullied, while the repeated complaints were ignored by the school administration.
The allegations came after a five-member committee formed by the Rajasthan education department is set to submit its report next week on the death of the private school student on November 1.
“We have spoken to her teachers, classmates, and other school staff. Prima facie, she was not willing to visit the school on the day of the incident. However, the fact will be ascertained after we speak to her parents,” Hindustan Times quoted Jaipur district education officer Ramniwas Sharma as saying.
Sharma said investigators found that some classmates had used “bad words” towards the girl. “We are probing whether she was depressed due to that or also had some problems at home,” he added.
Teachers ignored bullying complaints
The parents of the deceased child have reportedly accused one of her teachers of ignoring their daughter’s repeated complaints about being bullied by classmates, including on the day of the incident.
The parents also said they had raised the matter with school authorities several times over the past year but no action was taken, reported India Today.
“I would speak to the class teacher, I spoke to the class coordinator not once, but a number of times over the last one year, but they would either shrug me off or ignore me,” the child’s mother said, NDTV reported.
The same report said the parents alleged that the bullying included verbal abuse and remarks with “sexual connotations”.
Girl approached teacher twice minutes before tragedy
CCTV footage from the classroom, cited by NDTV and reviewed by investigators, reportedly shows the girl approaching her teacher twice just minutes before the incident. However, the footage has no audio, despite CBSE guidelines mandating sound in classroom recordings.
The incident took place on Saturday morning when the Class 4 student was seen jumping from the school’s fourth floor, according to police. Doctors said the fall caused multiple fractures and internal injuries, leading to her death.
Following the tragedy, the girl’s parents lodged an FIR against the school administration under Section 106 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Mansarovar police station.india n
The school authorities have so far declined to comment on the matter.
